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Platinum Carbon Black

The Platinum Carbon Black ink is a pigmented ink, and not a dye-based ink. It's got a matte sheen to it, and it will smear a bit if you lay it down heavily enough, but it's got some really strong water-proof qualities. On good paper (like the coated Rhodia that I use for reviews) this ink is super dark and it behaves itself very well. On copy paper, well, that's a different story. It has a tendency to spread, feather, and bleed.

Not the best behavior, but I'm thinking that this ink is meant to be used in specific circumstances where a person needs a line to be water-fast. Perhaps for art projects where the paper is thick and water might be involved? It's not really my bag, but I've seen people who use all sorts of ink-washing on their journals and planners. I bet this ink would be stellar for that sort of thing. Do you writing, do your ink-wash, keep organized? I bet it works.

Written Review

Close-Ups!

Copy-Paper Tests!

This is where the ink disappoints. I love how deep the black is, but that bleed-through...

Not-Copy-Paper...
I don't usually show the back of the Rhodia page in these reviews. Almost nothing will show through that paper, so there's usually no point. This time, though, there's some bleed through on the back where I smeared the ink. It's not much, but it's not absent, either. Put enough of this on the page and it'll bleed through.

Color Comparisons!

It turns out that I had several black inks available, and that's really convenient. Carbon might be the blackest black of them all, but Kiwa-Guro seems to have more shine to it.

Chromatography!

Two pigmented blacks side-by-side.

Water Drop Test! Review Video!

Here's the spoiler for that video, with a bonus comparison to Sailor's Kiwa-Guro.

Left: Platinum Carbon Right: Sailor Kiwa-Guro

I received this ink from Luxury Brands for review, and they don't sell directly. You can find this one at your favorite Platinum dealer. I suggest Anderson Pens , where you can get it in bottles, samples, or cartridges. Probably a sample or a set of cartridges would be the best with this ink.

Post Comment

I've been using carbon ink for many years as my primary ink for black colour (by Ostrich, based in Tianjin, China). The sole reason I use carbon ink as opposed to other dye-based inks is its unparalleled darkness.I haven't tried a whole lot of black inks out there but the ones I've used are more like saturated blue, which is apparent especially when the pen writes dry/fine, or when the pen is cleaned.The only downside is that carbon black tends to stain the pen/converter, and is dryer than average, and thus doesn't work well with EF or some dry pens.